Jeff,

Apparantly I am sleepless in the Northeast. You know first hand the role you have played in my trading, and what you have given me is priceless. You are clearly one of my mentors, and I am clearly one of your most loyal followers. Because of what you have done for me, I want to do for others. Givers get.

Thank you for all you do.

Well said Raimo!

Jeff, no one can complain about the knowledge that you have shared or fault you at all for any losses they may have sustained. You have taught me more about how to be a successful trader than anyone else at Investools. Your trading style fits my personality perfectly and that is why I have found myself glued to every presentation you do. I am becoming more and more successful at this game and ever more confident. I owe most of it to you. Thanks a million (getting closer). Hail to the blog king!

When I read Jeff's reply to Bottom Feeder yesterday, I felt very touched.....even though the message was not for me. Jeff truly cares about us.... That really gave me a lot of encouragement.

I made some money on Oct, which was out of luck because I didnt have any puts, and could have lost of money. Then, Jeff kick me, so I learned to diversify more. But NOV is so crazy, even the puts can not save the calls. It is really painful.

But, I know that I am not alone. I wake up at 6:00 and check Early Bird and Raimo, they are always there.. I feel good....So far away, but there are peopel trading with me, and guiding me....

This is a very very very special place...

Mimosa
Mimosa

Jeff

Can you please link the "futures" article to the Greatest Hits? I can not locate it already :-(

Thank you

Mimosa

Jeff,

We are loyal followers of everything you do as you are a terrific coach and we like your style (methodology). We would never blame you for a failed trade - your potential suggestions lead us in the right direction then it is up to us to make the final decision and be responsible for our decision. We have learned so much from you and continue to learn from you EVERY TIME we listen/watch. We haven't gotten our feet very wet on puts, as yet, after joining your blog, we intend to diversify and add some puts. Hope you get a good night's rest.

Getting read to sleep in So Cal,

ditto Raimo,
Yes I got slammed for not following some rules and not heeding the JK warnings but I reset, did what I was taught and made 50% of my losses back in a couple days. I know I can make money, just need to keep it. I'm on this site like a crack addict because it helps secure my future. I'll say it 1000 times, Jeff your efforts and energy are appreciated.

Just wait till I learn Options (he he)

Well said, Jeff.

Jeff-

True words of wisdom (especially about investing). I am so thankful for everyone in this community- whenever I'm feeling confused or beat up by the market, I know I have somewhere to turn- not only for some answers about what I did wrong but the support I need to turn myself around, learn from my mistakes, and feel confident that I will be a better trader tomorrow.

Raimo, for the first time I did the same thing. I would have been down but because I played some SPY and DIA today closed at -$5. I look at that as a huge success for me.

I am back again at near the lows in my account and will be gone the next couple of days so may have to cash out tomorrow.

Jeff, I have been trying to watch closer and act on your wisdom. I saw that you traded several four letter stocks yesterday and today after you advised us not too. I did not although I sure was tempted to do so. Could you enlighten me on what changed your mind?

Also sleepless in the Northeast!

I think I picked the wrong time to commit to learning how to trade. The past few days have definately showed me some of my stupid mistakes. Hopefully I learn from them and don't do it again.

Emotions & Exits are my BIG down falls. If I didn't have this blog to read I don't know if I would really stick this out. I have a very small account and only trade 1 contract at a time usually. (and I still manage to lose money) go figure.

I think I'm pretty determined this time and it definately helps to hear other people are having trouble in todays market. (not that, thats a good thing, but at least I know I'm not alone.)

I'm not used to losing. I guess I'd better get use to it and learn how to exit faster. MUCH FASTER!

I guess I should try to get some sleep.

THANKS JEFF AND EVERYONE!

Sleepless in the Northwest (usually the Northwet at this time of the year, we have a reprieve)

Jeff,

So right. I too have been beat up a bit the past week or so with five consecutive down days on the account valuation side. More specifically, down about 15%. However, I am up 5% on the trades that I have closed in the same timeframe. That would mean that I gave away a lot of unrealized gains. Does it hurt? Not anymore. I just need to learn how to work some type of mid day stop the bleeding type sell rule into my routine when the market gets this volatile. It is kind of tough while I am trying to concentrate on my job. This might be my biggest hang up right now. I started taking profits quicker during this timeframe but it didn’t help the ones that I was holding onto before the bottom fell out. I am still better off than my money would have been in a money market or mutual fund over the same period.

My goal during the beginning of future volatile times is to take profits on ALL trades where I am up big. Immediately reduce ALL positions sides, not just the ones that weren’t working the day I started cutting back. I gave a bit away this way, but, still profited. I had a similar problem in June, however, this time I left with profits as lines were violated rather than giving positions “one more day” for the dead cat bounce. Unfortunately on the ones I cut loose yesterday would have been much better, but, who knew…

Strangely enough, I am feeling real confident right now. I was down pretty big today, but only sold my DIA and SPY calls that I bought before the close yesterday. Big gains for one day’s work... I tried to rid myself of my QQQQ calls but TOS locked up on me. My half positions of my puts that I didn’t close Friday or Yesterday (to lock profits) gave a bit back but are still well within my comfort zone.

Jeff your request for Putskinis has me going to bed with this short list since I can’t keep my eyes open anymore and still have a bunch of dishes to do…

PPS – waiting for the bottom to fall out
NVDA – if it turns down from the $33 range or wait for lower high
CAT – another 1 to 1.5 pts of retest
WSO
BSC – around $103
NS
PTRY
RDC
WTS
TNB
NCTY
PSA if it turns down soon… say tomorrow…
BTU as a H & S if energy pulls back for another week or two
GIVN
FRX one of these days
CNS

On a bullish note, what are some thoughts of ANW as a bullish falling wedge?

Sorry for the book… Believe it or not, I don’t talk too much in person. I was selectively mute as a child.

Buenos noches!

Jeff,

I'm still learning, but your instruction has improved my learning curve immensely. You have taught all of us strategies for curbing our emotions - small position sizes, small number of positions in volatile times, taking profits faster, etc. I've lost a little bit over the last week, but I'm okay with that, because I know that with discipline and adherence to my rules, I'll be okay in the long run.

Thanks!

Count me in as one here to offer a hand...I am a firm believer in the "Power of Reciprocity" - You give you get. I am what I am today from some really great mentors that crossed my path - Jeff is one the "short list" of my most memorable. I hope to do pay back what I learned someday. Raimo you rock man!!! I can not wait to meet you in person someday. I feel like I know you just from reading your words of encouragement and truth. Getting to know some of the other OAs as well and enjoying it.

Well today is a new day and the markets are conspiring their attack plans so I am off to recon...... back in a few!

Thanks (Jeff and community) for the encouragement!

DEES

Good morning! While all o'youse were sleepless last night I slept like a baby. Why? I have no market position to worry about. Yet I still can't stop checking in here first thing in the morning. If not for Jeff and this community I would have thrown in the towel last spring when I was down about 40% on my accounts.

Last week I was sleepless. Why? I sat up in bed and suddenly realized that I had so many positions in so many different stocks and I couldn't even remember what I had! Can you say "overtrading"? While some may be comfortable with 1 or 2 contracts in dozens of trades at once, I realize I am not. At least not now at this stage of my career.

When I come back to the market from vacation I need to get my confidence back. I will look for only the 'easy' obvious trades and start small. I will find my Sleep Number, ie, the number of trades I feel I can manage comfortably without losing sleep.

Thank you, everyone, for being here.

I would also like to chime in here and say that although I learned a bunch of things floundering around before I met Jeff - as soon as I found the Marketcast and Jeff and Eric, I was immediately able to decide who knew their stuff and who didnt. They cleared up LOTS of confusion.

What Jeff and Eric have, is that they have nearly no bias, no filters, as clear as you can get to just observing what the market does and reacting and trading well. The other amazing quality they have is that you can feel that they have a good self-less intent. I have not ever felt an agenda other than to make learning fun and wanting you to learn.

That said, I make mistakes all the time. Everyday. I get some things right everyday too. Sometimes I blow it up and sometimes boom.

That's how people learn. Its inevitable we will make mistakes. We are all pushing through to success. Which - if we keep trying - success will also be inevitable.

So what if some call this blog an addiction. I will handle my mistakes. Give me Jeff to learn from, any day of the week.

hey jeff,
quick ?. you stated that you still has a position in mos. i am curious, did you hang on after monday's down day or get out and reenter the position on tuesday?
thanks for your help, jill

sorry-have

What a timely post, Jeff. I logged on this morning to post a pretty heartfelt and open post on this very topic. So what a perfect thread to do it in.

As many of you know, I began trading full-time in June. Things have gone beautifully. I haven't had a losing month since February and the last few months I've just made a ton of money. Everything was rolling along, I was keeping losses small, taking profits and doing my best to let profits run. I found a system that worked for me (patterned after Jeff's style) and my life was changed completely.

I traded through 2 corrections and gained a ton of confidence and experience. At times I became overconfident, probably borderline arrogant. The psychology element of trading is the one that you have to overcome yourself. No one can drill into your mind that as easy as you can make a lot of money, you can lose it. There's a fine line between respect for the market and the feeling you have control over it. Anyway, The first 2 weeks of November, I continued my run with no end in sight. In the last 3 days, I lost everything I made in October (which was a lot), and now I'm on the verge of my first losing month. What is very frustrating is that I continued trading my plan and my rules. However, I took too many small losses on poorly selected trades. There is more to trade selection than just a pattern that presents itself. You need to look at industry, stock's historical moves, the overall market condition, etc. When you're an aggressive trader like I am, you can get a little too carefree when things are rolling so well.

More importantly than that, I have become shaken, unsure of what I am doing. In the past, taking losses was no big deal. It just brought me a step closer to that big winner. Now I find myself soul-searching.

I wanted to share this with the blog so that everyone can see that it doesn't matter your experience level, these things can happen. Jeff is the only person I know of who is way beyond these pitfalls. I take solace in the fact that I'm still way ahead, I believe I'm still becoming a better trader, and no major damage has been done. However, I now find myself pared way back, trying to gain a foothold and at least chip away at my November losses, not trying to overtrade my way back. I have talked to others who are going through the same thing, and sadly it seems some have had irreparable damage done. I feel far more sadness for those people than myself.

I believe this is a very tough market, much tougher than February, July or August. I hope to be able to gain my confidence and swagger back, but I hope everyone here understands that, though very complementary things have been said about me here, I'm no expert, no special trader, and no 'wonder boy'. Despite my (sometimes failed) attempts at humor and my experience and advice I try to share with you all here, I'm a lot closer to beginner than expert.

I hope this market settles down and that myself and others can put some solid winning days together. As it stands now, another bad day or 2, and I may shut it down for a week or so. Capital preservation is paramount here. If you're not feeling like you can beat the market, don't let the market beat you.

Good luck the rest of the week, everyone.

What a nice surprise, a new post to read while i eat breakfast....
i don't want to sound like a broken record, but Jeff you really ae the best !!! we love you and all the guidance you give us!!!

ppi/cpi report just released and looks like the futures are soaring.....good luck guys, make lots of money

Jeff,

What a great post. I am a new trader still trying to work out my own risk analysis and trading style. Thanks to you and the other people in this community, my style is starting to take shape and I am starting to get more comfortable in my trading.

I still have a lot to learn, ALOT, but your blog has really increased my knowledge and I have to thank you for that.

Terry

Brett,

You have expressed what I am going through very well, and DG, I love your "sleep number" analogy. I have been losing sleep these last few weeks.

I'm in a different place. I have had my account auto-traded(a small portion of it), for most of this year. It went really well, (nearly doubled the alloted amount traded) until it went wrong. At the time, I was impressed with the results, and increased the position size and had 4 bad trades in a row, losing 100% of the trade value. THEN I find out that I can manage the trades myself after they are put on, so I did (this means that the trade is automatically put on, but if I don't like it, I can get out of it. I did that a couple of times and made a profit where the original trade would have been a loser). But now I have too many trades to watch/keep track of, and I'm overwhelmed.

Instead of taking some of the pressure off of me so that I can concentrate on my futures trading, I'm second guessing myself AND the newsletters to which I subscribe - and my account is suffering because of it.

The whole point of the auto-trade was to NOT pay attention to what was happeneing in my account, and yet I watch it. I'm done. No more auto-trade. I realize that my trades are better, though fewer, and I know how to make money in the markets. I just haven't been because I've been spread too thin.

It's been hard to be here and read the success stories when I was doing so poorly. But I'm ready to take the reigns again and control my future. I'd rather sit in cash than not sleep.

I want to be able to maximize the size of my account, and yet, I've struggled with that the entire time I've traded. I'm position sized well. However, because I'm in such small positions, I either have to have a lot of positions or I have a lot of cash.

Jeff, could you talk about account management in terms of what percentage of an account should be active at one time? If you've already talked about it, please point me in the right direction. This is my weak spot.

'preciate it. Hard to push "publish" on this confession, but my hope is that it will help someone else.

thanks for being such a great listserve/message board, and Jeff thanks for being such a great leader.

Brett,
Great post. Thanks for continuing to share your experiences. Definitely helpful to those of us that intend to do this full time at some point. Regardless of how ready we may think we are, the challenges will always be there. And contrary to what I thought when I first joined Investools, I can see that it will take YEARS for me to be a successful trader. At least the way I define "successful" anyway.

Brett,

That is an awesome post.

Everybody, thanks for sharing your struggles. I have struggled also. I am only in three positions, and waiting for a more opportune time to engage fully in the market. There have been times that I have made significant gains, only to see them vanish in a couple of days. I think the best thing is to step back and shake it off and wait. Jeff, thanks for this blog.

Might as well throw my sob story into this. I started trading in June. September came along and I threw everything I had into EMC. I ended up with a return of 180% on my entire portfolio. Keep in mind I barely had enough to open a margin account according to Reg. T.

The past month I've seen that return disappear and then some. Coupled with a day trading margin call and I've been rattled quite a bit. It's just a matter of hanging in there.

A few days of refocusing really helps. Having your own blog can help as well, if you're the type that prefers to have thoughts on paper (or PC). I went full cash last week to regroup. Took a nibble yesterday for the first time in a week. I'm only back in the game because I stumbled upon this blog. I appreciate everything Jeff and his crew have done and everyone visiting and commenting. It's never a bad thing having a support group for addicts like ourselves.

Unbelievable, OAs. This is a great community.

Thanks for the wonderful posts and support. Brett and Lisa, thanks for sharing. You have always been here for us; I hope we can return the favor.

It sounds like it has been a tough week for most of us (and it is only Wednesday).

Chin up, All! Let's find our way in this market.

I have enjoyed watching this community for 6 months now and more recently started contributing. The one thing that has me concerned is people do not give option trading the respect it deserves. In other areas of investment advice, options "are like going to Vegas, you will lose more than you'll gain". Sometimes on this site, options are treated as main stream, low risk investing. I am not talking of Jeff, he gives every disclaimer in the world. When I read some of the rants, it seems like people have there entire portfolio invested in options. If 100% returns are ten times more than 10% returns, doesn't it make sense that it is at least ten times more risky?

The way I got to retire early was for 20 years to invest 95% of my money in no load index mutual funds. I moved in and out as the long term indicators showed me and I missed most of the crashes/corrections along the way. The other 5% of my investments lost money, but it didn't matter, it was 5%. Now that I count on my investments to sustain my lifestyle, I still stick to what got me here. I now am making much better returns with that 5% that is at risk because of investools, option addict and at least a book a month.

The analogy that I think fits here is the miracle diet pill. TAKE THIS PILL, exercise and eat properly AND YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT!!! Keep up the good work Jeff, you are doing a huge service here.

I have been trading 4 years now and have been @ breakeven until this year. My cash trading account has lost 40% to this point(alot of option plays). IRA trading acct has been up 110% for the year(on buy & hold uptrending stocks). I found this site during the blogger awards and has helped me immensely.(Only lost 5% the past week.) I seem to miss the breakouts and buy late or hold on to losers and lose alot. And of course every action I take the market goes the other way.
My 2 cents @ this point is just trade 1 contract , diversify, and stick to your stop point. If I had abided by this my account would be up about 20% (or more)for the year. I have learned a ton just these past few months by analyzing the watchlist, drawing trend lines and try to see what Yoda sees. Great success to us all!

Brett:
Thank you for your open and honest post.

Lisa, on the left, there's a link that says "My Trading Style." A little over halfway down or so, Jeff talks about how he diversifies his portfolio, including how much in cash (presumably that applies to NORMAL market conditions, not choppy ones like what we're having now!)

That might getcha started! :)

Brett, good post. Thanks for that!

Portfolio Heat: How much of your total portfolio you will lose if every position currently in your portfolio were to stop you out today, be it with hard stops or mental.

If you risk 2% of your portfolio per trade and you have 10 trades going you should be comfortable with a 20% drawdown in your acct.

Food for thought that we've all eaten but I felt it needed to be said again.

Brett, Raimo, Jeff...I know we say it over and over but it continues to hold true that hearing the good and bad from you gives us all strength, hope and courage. Thanks.

BTW, Tonya, I picked up on what you were hinting at, too.

(smile)

Jeff
I love most of your style. Some of it I just do not get YET. Like when is a pullback just a pullback and not the road to ruin. It is because of all the info you post and the Mastertalks that I was doing so well.Then Friday and Monday back to back. When my shorts go up and my longs go down it makes for a bad day. I need to regroup to see what I did wrong or did not see. Thanks Again. Greg

Jeff, in your post, you said, "I don't want it to take you as long as it took me to become successful."

How long did it take you?

When I started in June, I was green and completely optimistic, armed with my InvesTools Basic Stocks and Basic Options education. The world could tell me nothing!

Now, several thousands later and narrowly avoiding a wipeout, I am, to put it mildly, humbled. So I'm curious as to how those first few months and years went for you...

Jeff
You truly have our back! Your willingness to share knowlege and open support touches much more than just our pocketbooks, you touch our lives.

Denise
I think you started at just the right time, this type of market can increase the learning curve and this group is an asset so many have not found or did not have available when they started.

Brett

That post was totally awesome, I posted here the other day how I got the $#@t kicked out of me the last 5 days ( as many,many of you also did ) and my response was that I WILL LEARN FROM IT and get it back.Yesterday was a start,albeit small but a start.

There is so much wealth of vaulable information on this blog from everyone and I personally thank each and every one of you for that.

As I said yesterday, I too am shaken with my account results over the past few weeks. I am down but not out. I have very little cash to make a move with at this point, but more concerning, is the fact that I like Brett am unsure of the next move to make.

I feels like this is the 2 steps back part of "1 step forward, 2 steps back".

Here is what I am currenlty holding:

GLD

Long ARTC, CNX, GS, NM, SYNA
Short SPN, SVU

Only the GLD and SYNA positions are up currently. The others are still in pattern/plan (plan the trade, trade tha plan). Being patient.

All other bad positions I have dumped when they broke bad.

Not sure what else to do...

thanks
strat

Jeff,

thanks for the support.

Brett,

Great post. I'm right there with you. Last week I closed out my biggest win yet, only give back most of my profit in the last 3 days. I'm struggling here and am backing way off, until I can my confidence back. As much as I want to be out of the market completely, I can't stay away completely. I love this business,so at the hardest times times I stay involve.

Thanks to everyone for all the support. We need to stick together and we will all come out winners.

What a great community.

To Log or Not To Log....

For a very clear visual of how log changes the outlook of your Prophet chart, check out CREG on a 6 month chart.

Oh -- Jeff and others OA's:

I learn everyday from reading this blog. I hold nobody but myself responsible for my account swing.

Thought I should say that.

thanks
strat

VA Beach Girl -

I think the reason for the BIG difference is the prior price action back prior to Sep 21st? This will definitely affect the averages... I do not think this is good example to use for a comparison? Just my "2 cents" worth for what that is worth... probably less than 2 cents...

Point taken Early Bird. I'm not trying to sway either way. Just trying to point out a visual on how % moves change the look of the chart in an extreme example.

Sometimes I have toggled back and forth on a chart to see the difference and said to myself, "huh? I don't see the difference." I should have added the perspective I was coming from on making that post. Thanks for keeping me honest.

And that is why I'm not backing off either Jeff. We are fortunate to be learning through such hard trading times. It would be awful to be learning while its easy and get it mastered only to find ourselves trading full time through times like these.

Plus, the easy ones, will be that much easier, once we go through the hard ones.

Not to say that I'm not leary......

thanks Krystal... will take a look.

I have often wondered myself about LOG or not. I just found this website that I found helpful to understand it better.
http://globalgrowthinvestor.com/124/why-im-increasingly-using-log-scale-charts/

Jeff and Brett THANKS!

While I never had those big great growth months I am rebuilding my account...slowly. The best thing for me is that when I got stopped out of all my Bull side I knew what to do and how to do it quickly as I have limited time this week. That is a success story for IT education and for Jeff and all of you - THANKS.

I have recently learned the hard way.I was foolish and had all my positions long and no short, got whacked and have been struggling ever since.I did learn to diversify between calls and puts which has not been as fruitful as I like, but I do know that I will practice this from here forward.I feel when I make it through this, I will be a much better trader.We need mentors, and Jeff is one,but I believe experience is the best teacher.Learning the hard way burns our mistakes in to our brain, and we won't be as quick to make the same mistakes.Thanks Jeff for all the efforts you put forward.